Grain-car door



CAMPBELL. GRAIN CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPTJB, 1920.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. CAMPBELL.

GRAIN CAR DOOR. APPLICATION; FILED SEPT. 10. 1920.

' Patented F0111, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARGYLE CAMPBELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,'ASSIGNOR TO ENTERPRISfiRAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

Application filed September 18, 1920. Serial No. 411,240.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LARGYLE CAMPBELL, a

citizenof the United States, residing at Chi-.

cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementin Grain-Car Doors,of which the following-is a full, clear,;concise, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in grain car doors.

The object of the invention is'to provide a simple elficient andeconomical arrangement of grain doors for railway box cars, the arrangement being such that the grain doors, when the car is used for carrying loads other than grain or other bulk materials, may be readily positioned in the car in such a way as to avoid interference with loading of the car and without occupying any of the normal loading space of the car.

Other objects of the invention will more I clearly appear from the description considered in connection with the drawings, hereinafter following.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification Figure 1 is an inside elevational view of a box car adapted for the carrying of grain and showingvmy improvements in connection therewith. The full lines indicate the position of the two grain doors in position across the usual side door opening and the dotted lines'indicate the position assumed by the doors when not in use. Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional View corresponding substantially to the line 2-2 of F igure 1. Figure 3 is a vertical broken sectional view corresponding substantially to the line 3-3 of Figure 1. And Figure 1 is a detail sectional view corresponding substantially to the line 1-a of Figure 1.

In said drawings,,the box car is shown as having a side wall composed of a single heavy wood sheathing 1O braced 011 the exterior thereofby Z-bar posts 11 and diagonal braces 12 in a well known manner. The usual side door opening, indicatedat 112 is shown, the same being defined by a threshold 13, lintel 14 and vjan1bs 15-15. The jambs have applied thereto interior facing strips 16-16.i11 the usual manner.

In the ordinary construction of cars of the single'sill types, such as shown in the drawing, the wood sheathingextends to the door j ambs. In orderto enable me to position the grain doors, when the latter are not in use, clear of the interior of the car and without occupying any of the usual loading space, I remove or omit those portions of the wood sheathing 10 between the door jambs and the posts 11 which are nearest thereto,

as shown most clearly in Figure 2 and substitute for the wood sheathing thus removed or omitted, sheet metal panels 17'17 which are applied at their edges to the outer face of the wood sheathing so as to leave recesses 18-18 immediately adjacent the door opening on each side thereof. As will be-obvious, the depth or horizontal dimension of said recesses 18 will correspond to the thickness of the wood sheathing which in ordinary practice is usually one and ter inches. x j 7 c In carrying out my invention, I employ two grain doors A and B. Each'of'said doors A and B may be of any desired substantial construction but preferably each consists of a plurality of horizontally extending boards 19- -19 bound around their vertical edges by U-shaped sheet metal binding strips 2020. Dia onally extending battens of plate or metaIstrap form are also preferably employed. The various boards or planks are preferably shiplapped and the top edge of the bottom door A and lower-edge of the upper door B are also preferably ship lapped as indicated-at 22 in order to-prev'ent leakage of grain. As clearly shown in F ig ure 1, the doors are of such a width as to extend across the door opening112 and also overlap the interior facing strips 16.

The lower door A is pivotally attached by means of a hinge butt 23 through which extends a horizontally arranged elongated fixed bolt 24. The bolt 24: is preferably countersunk as indicated at 25 in Figure 1 so that the bolt and the anchor casting towhich it is secured will be below the floor level and substantially free from any injury from trucking or placing or removing of the load. The hinge mounting for the door A is at one lower corner as clearly indicated in Figure land the axis of the pivotal connection is three quarslightly to one side of the corresponding door jamb and facing strip ,so as to adapt the door to be swung to a vertical position as indicated by the dotted lines A in Figure 1. When swung to said vertical position, the door A may then be shifted inwardly of r is the bolt 24 Within the recess 18 so as-to lie fiat against the sheet metal panel 17 as best indicated, in Figure 2. The door may be held in this vertical inoperative position by any suitable means such as a pivoted latch 26 and pin 27.

.Inthe case of the upper door B, the pivotal connection is'at a'lower corner but on the opposite side of the .door opening to that of the pivotal mounting of the lower door A;- Inthecase of the door B, a diagonally downwardly. extending hinge bracket 28 is used, the-"same being mounted on a. horizontally'extending elongated bolt 29. The head of the bo1t-29'is'vertica11y adjustably mount-- ed in a guiding casting 30 having a vertically! extending slot 31 through which the bolt; is permitted to slide within the. casting 30.; The guiding casting 30 'is secured to the corresponding sheet metal panel 17 The hingebutt-'28 is made elongated as clearly indicated in Figure 4 and the bracket 30 is so positioned as to bring the bolt29 an appreciable dfistance away from the adjacent door ja-mbandfacing strip. This isdone in orderto permit the'door B, when it is swung clear of thedoor opening 112-, to be moved outwardly-against the panel 17 to the position indicated by the dotted lines B in Figure h In other words, the vertical edge 32 of the door B, when it isin the dotted line position B, is clear of the guiding bracket 30 and hen'cewill leavethei'nner face of the door B flush with theiinner face of the wood sheathinglO. The-guiding bracket 30 is extended downwardly a short distance within the-floor 33=so that, when the door B is in it'sinoperative position, the bolt 29 will enter the slot 34 in the floor and be freefrom danger 'or injury as in-the oaseof the other pivotal connection, heretofore described. T'he door Bcan be'held in its inoperative position imany suitablemanner as by a pivoted latch35 and pin 36.

The" width: of the side door openings and the" height of the roof above th'e fioor of box cars variesand itisonaccount ofthese facts that the doorB is mounted by means of an adjustable'pivoted connection. Where the side door openingof the car is narrow and the roof comparatively high above the floor, no difiiculty would beexperien'ced in swinging the upper door B about a fixed pivot but where the door opening is unusually wide or the roof is comparatively low, it would be-impossible to swing the upper door about a fixed pivot, Vith my construction of adjustable pivotal attachments for the upper door, I am enabled to employ the same on all types ofcars regardless of theva-riations and dimensions referred to since, in swinging the up aeir door B about its pivotal connection, the pivotal connection may be gradually lowered during the pivotal movement so as to avoid" any possible interference or engagement with the roof, as will be under- 7 stood. A a I \Vhen a car is filledwith grain the pressure against the grain door-sis such that it isalmost impossible to open the grain doors unless the pressure is relieved against the inner sideof the grain doors. Some railroads prefer a relief door as indicated conventionall-ybydotted lines at 37 in Figure 1 in the lower door A and other railroads prefer a grain relief discharge chute as indicated conventionally at 38 in Figure 3, to accomplish this result. Either praoticeimay be employed in connection with my improvements.

lhav'e herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out my invention but the same is merely illustrative and I. contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appendedchereto.

I claim: v

1. A grain car having aside door opening; and a pair ofinside grain doors adapted to partially close said door opening and ar- 90 ranged to be positioned one above theother when in operative position, the lower of said doors beingrpivotally attached at a relatively fixed point to the'carat one of itslower corners, the upper door being pivotally attached J5 at its lower corner on the opposite side of the door opening, said last named pivotal connection being adjustable to permit the upper door to be bodily lowered to the floor when swun to an inoperative position. V

2. in a grain box car, thecombination with the side wall thereof having a side door open ing, said wallhaving a recess provided on the inner side thereof immediately adjacent one side ofthe door opening; of an inner door adapted to be horizontally positioned acrossthe door opening when in operative position, said door being pivotally attached at one of its lower corners to saidside ofthe door opening and arranged to permit the 110 door to be swung in a vertical plane, the door being'horizontally inwardly and outwardly adjustable on'its pivot relatively to the side wall of the car so that, when the door is swung clear of the door opening, itmay be 115 positioned withinsaid recess of the car wall.

3. In a railway'box car adapted for the carryingof grain and the like, the combination with a side wall thereof having a door 7 opening, said side wall having recesses on the 120 inner side thereof on'eachside of the door opening and immedia-tely adjacent the'latter; ofa pair of innerdoors adapted to bepositioned acrosssaid door'opening, one above the other, each ofs'aid' doors being pivotally 125.

attached to said car wall, one atone side of the door openingiand the other atthe oppositeside thereof on the inner side of the wall, 7 each pivotal connection-of the doors permitting of horizontal adjustment inwardly and 1 30 outwardly with respect to the car wall whereby, when the doors are swung to inoperative position, each is adapted to be seated in one of said recesses.

4. In a railway box car adapted for the carrying of grain and the like, the combination with a side wall thereof having a door opening, said side wall having recesses on the inner side thereof on each side of the door opening and immediately adjacent the latter; of a pair of inner doors adapted to be positioned across said door opening, one above the other, each of said doors being pivotally attached to said car wall, one at one side of the door opening and the other at the opposite side thereof on the inner side of the wall, each pivotal connection of the doors permitting of horizontal adjustment inwardly and outwardly with respect to the car wall whereby, when the doors are swung to inoperative position, each is adapted to be seated in one of said recesses, the pivotal connection for the upper door being also vertically adjustable.

5. A railway box car adapted for the carrying of grain and the like, said car having a side wall provided with a door opening therein, said wall being composed mainly of wood sheathing and exterior posts and braces, the portions of the side walls on opposite sides of and immediately adjacent the said door opening comprising sheet metal panels extending between the door jambs and the respective nearest posts, the sheet metal panels being disposed on the outer side of the wood sheathing whereby to leave recesses on posed mainly of wood sheathing and exterior posts and braces, said side wall having a side door opening therein, the portions of the side walls immediately adjacent the door opening on each side thereof consisting of sheet metal panels; of a lower rain door pivotally attached at one of its ower corners to the car structure at one side of the door opening and about which pivot the door is adapted to be swung in a vertical plane to a position opposite one of said sheet metal panels; of a second grain door pivotally connected at one of its lower corners to the car structure at the opposite side of the door opening, said last named pivotal connection being Vertically adjustable and adapting the door to be swung in a vertical plane to a position opposite the other of said sheet metal panels.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 4th day of Sept, 1920.

ARGYLE CAMPBELL.

Witness CARRIE GAILING. 

